Help Will Always Be Given
by MissCHSparkles
Summary: While reading fan fiction, Hermione and Ron have noticed that certain mistakes can be made when writing. So, they have decided to compile a list to help writers with their stories. A sort of fun story which actually is meant to offer advice for writing.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note. You will often find that your very first story isn't always the best. I know that if I compare my earliest stories to what I do now, I just can't believe it. But experience has helped me to write better and this is just a little story with advice for writing._

_I think that it helped I grew up just before the age of computers so I learned to write the traditional way. But quite a few new authors write as though they are texting and even those who don't, it doesn't really sound like a real story._

_So anyway, here's hoping this helps at least one person with their stories. _

_Enjoy and please review._

"What are you doing, Ron?"

Hermione asked her husband this question as she examined a new cookbook her mum had sent her. Ever since that year they'd been on the run, she'd determined to become a proper cook even if she only had a few fish and berries for ingredients. Ten years had passed since that fateful year and Hermione liked to think she'd become a pretty decent cook.

Granted, she'd probably never be as good as Molly or mum as the good woman insisted she call her. She smiled, during her school years it had felt like she was slipping away from her mother but now she had two mothers she was close to. Graduating from Hogwarts had made it much easier to patch up her frayed relationship with her parents, especially with the help of the Weasleys.

Both Molly Weasley and Heather Granger were doting grandmothers and immensely proud of their children's achievements. Arthur and Ian had become very firm friends, each satisfying the others thirst for knowledge of the other's world. Both their spouses just rolled their eyes and let them get on with it. Hermione sometimes felt she could scream with joy, her life really was going very well.

She had a loving husband who she could still talk to like a best friend, a beautiful little girl and another child on the way. Currently, little Rose was being looked after by Hermione's own parents. Hermione was determined that both her children would grow up with the best of both worlds, she didn't want them ignorant of their roots.

Thankfully, Ron had been interested to learn about the Muggle world and they'd spent some time there after she'd finished her education. When they got married, he readily agreed that their children should know all things Muggle. Of course, taking him to the cinema had helped show him how great Muggle things really could be. They still went there every month to see the latest film and Ron also enjoyed their telly.

Another Muggle invention that Ron enjoyed was their computer, an object which had certainly advanced from when she was young. The things you could look up and do, it was simply staggering. It was like having a whole library at your fingertips. Their computer or laptop was what Ron was currently on, supposedly checking his emails. It had been amusing learning how to work one and explaining how no wands could be used to make it go faster but now her man was quite the expert.

"I'm looking up fan fiction," he now responded, having just realised she'd asked him a question.

She smiled as she patted her very swollen belly, he was looking up _that_ again.

"Anything good?" she asked as she put down her healthy cooking book down to look at him.

"There's a weird one about Snape adopting Harry," Ron answered, looking very bemused. "And we're still his friends in this one, Snape actually lets us all study."

"Oh, save that for me," Hermione said, smiling as she tried to visualise their old Potion's teacher's face if he ever heard of such a story. Since his true allegiance had come out, he'd been granted a Headmaster's portrait and the trio had all seen him at some point or another.

He'd actually told her that he'd always been pleased by the work she put in and how seriously she took the subject. He had merely been disappointed that she had never shown an interest in thinking outside the box or really pursuing a career about Potions. She was adept at Potions and he had been happy about that but she had never been a protégé. He had always been on the lookout for one and had found a few.

It was a deep shame that it had been his portrait who'd told her these things, whatever his sins, he hadn't deserved the grisly death that had befallen him. Even the likes of Ron and George had forgiven him, George understanding and accepting that his ear had been a horrible accident. Ron always said that never having to deal with Snape properly helped with his own attitude.

This was one reason why Hermione enjoyed some of the fan fiction that involved Snape, it was nice to imagine how things could have been different. Although she stayed away from any that hinted at a relationship between her and Snape, those were just wrong. When the War had ended, it had been suggested Harry have his experiences written down. He'd only agreed if they could be presented as Muggle works of fiction and so the Harry Potter series was born.

The last book had come out very recently and fans had enjoyed it an awful lot. Even better, the films were doing quite well although Ron did still moan about how he was portrayed in certain situations. But the funny thing was, with the internet, they could actually find out how children and adults alike thought of their adventures. Many had written their own versions ranging from the brilliant to the ghastly.

Honestly, why would she ever go back in time and fall in love with Tom Riddle.

"Merlin, I can't even read this," Ron suddenly exclaimed, interrupting her thoughts.

"What's wrong?" she asked, propelling herself over on the computer seat she had stolen, Ron was currently using a kitchen chair.

"Look at that," Ron said, gesturing at the screen and she leaned forward to see what was wrong.

She frowned, the chapter seemed to be one massive paragraph and she barely knew where to begin. It wasn't just a descriptive paragraph, several different characters appeared to be talking but it was too hard on the eyes to read.

"Oh dear," she murmured as Ron said.

"I know, you'd think they'd use that space bar thing, wouldn't you?"

"You would," she sighed. "But I think some people honestly don't see anything wrong with that."

"Well, it's stupid," Ron said, glaring at the screen. "Can they actually read it? Isn't it possible to change it?"

"I think so," she said, she'd created her own account so she could read those stories she actually liked. She hadn't written anything herself, it was too weird writing about yourself and your friends but she had explored the account and what you could do with it.

Ron was still glaring at the screen.

"I don't think I like this, it's some weird one about the twins having a girlfriend."

"What did the summary say?" Hermione asked, she always told him to read the summary before checking a story out. That way, he couldn't be surprised by a story which contained Dramione or Hon.

"Just something about the twins many adventures," Ron sighed. "I thought it might be a nice story for George..."

His voice tailed off and she gently laid a hand on his shoulder. Fred Weasley would have loved from of these whacky stories featuring him and his twin. Heck, even ones that didn't focus on the Weasleys twins, he'd have enjoyed. Ten years couldn't erase the hole that laughing young man had left and it probably never would.

"It's sweet you try to find stories for George and for Percy."

The third eldest Weasley boy tried to laugh more ever since Fred's death. It was the best way to remember him and everyone had agreed. He'd become much closer to George and they'd worked through the grief and the pain.

"Yeah," Ron muttered before clearing his throat. "You know, I really can't believe some of these stories. Some of them, you can barely read because of how their written or because the plot if so stupid."

Hermione nodded, while there were some she loved, others...

"Sometimes I really want to give them a good shake," Ron now said darkly. "Why would I ever get together with _Luna?_ Or my own _sister_, urgh..."

"Why don't we write a list?" Hermione suggested, knowing that fan fiction could be a sore point with her husband. "We can try and help those who want to write good stories but maybe don't have anyone to advise them?"

Ron thought about it for a moment before nodding.

"Sounds good, let's do it."

She smiled before asking.

"Shall I type?"

Ron blushed, he was still learning how to type using all his fingers and thumbs. He wasn't doing too bad, he just go disheartened when he saw how fast others did it. It was no good pointing out that Harry was at the same level, Ron was determined to overcome his bad typing skills.

He shifted his chair so that she'd have free rein and she scooted to in front of the screen.

"Okay," she declared, flexing her fingers. "Where shall we begin?"

_Author's note. The next chapter contains the first bit of the list, I hope you all enjoy it. Hermione's parents have never been named so I used the names of the people who have portrayed them._


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's note. Here's the start of the list, I hope it can help people. If anyone has their own advice for writers, let me know and I can add them to this story._

_Harry Potter and related characters belong to J.K. Rowling, including the part in bold._

_Enjoy and please review._

1. Use paragraphs. This may seem a very obvious and pointless thing to say but you'd be surprised how many people smash everything together. For instance, can you read this bit taken from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban?

**Malfoy didn't reappear in classes until late on Thursday morning, when the Slytherins and Gryffindors were halfway through double Potions. He swaggered into the dungeon, his right arm covered in bandages and bound up in a sling, acting, in Harry's opinion, as though he were the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle.**"**How is it, Draco?" simpered Pansy Parkinson. "Does it hurt much?"**"**Yeah," said Malfoy, putting on a brave sort of grimace. But Harry saw him wink at Crabbe and Goyle when Pansy had looked away.**"**Settle down, settle down," said Professor Snape and Ron scowled at each other; Snape wouldn't have said 'settle down' if they'd walked in late, he'd have given them Malfoy had always been able to get away with anything in Snape's classes; Snape was head of Slytherin House, and generally favoured his own students above all others. They were making a new potion today, a Shrinking Solution. Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to Harry and Ron, so that they were preparing their ingredients on the same table.**"**Sir," Malfoy called, "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm —"**"**Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him," said Snape without looking went brick red.**"**There's nothing wrong with your arm," he hissed at smirked across the table.**

This is really difficult to read, especially if there is a whole chapter like this. It is good to have large paragraphs when you're describing something but you still need to avoid it going too big. If you have one that takes up nearly a whole page, break it down. A lot of people can be put off stories just because they can't read them properly.

Here's another thing to remember, when a new person starts speaking, that means a new line or paragraph. For example.

**Sir," Malfoy called, "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm —"**

"**Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him," said Snape**

You see how easy this is to read and you don't get confused about who is saying what. Also, if your character says something and then adds something, make sure this is in the same paragraph as the first thing they said.

Don't do this.

"**Sir," Malfoy called, **

**"sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm —"**

This is a mistake I used to make, always keep what someone is saying together.

"**Sir," Malfoy called, "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm —"**

This honestly makes a big difference to your writing and avoids reviewers pointing out mistakes. Because as we all know, it can be annoying when all a reviews says is how you made a mistake.

This was really bugging Ron but we both hope this can helps writers avoid this mistake. If you did write everything as it should but when you upload it and Fan Fiction messes it up, don't panic. Simply go to your Doc upload and see what your saved file looks like. If there is anything wrong with it, correct the mistakes and then save it.

Actually, it always helps to quickly check your work every time you upload a new chapter and to save it even if there's nothing wrong. It really should help your chapters look nice. Once you've corrected your old chapter, you now need to replace it. Deleting chapters mean you lose all the reviews for it so you don't want that.

Go to Manage Stories under Publish and then click on Contents/Chapters. At the very bottom, there is an option for replacing chapters. Just select the chapter you want and then select the saved document to replace the chapter. Then all you do is click on Replace Chapter and that's it.

It's really that simple so if you have a chapter you're not happy about but don't want to lose the review, that's all you need to do.

_Author's note. Well, this is the first bit of the list, I hope it's a good chapter and if you want more, please let me know. Thanks and until next time._


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's note. So far the response has been good, remember this is just a bit of fun that hopefully does help some authors._

_Suggestions are very welcome._

_Hermione is in normal text, any input by Ron is in bold. _

_Enjoy and please review._

2. Another issue that seems to crop up is the fact that while we and the books are set in Britain, that's including England, Wales and Scotland. Remember, Britain is not just England, it includes two other countries. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom along with the other three, it may strange to those outside but it makes sense to us. Anyway, as I was saying, while we are located in Britain, a lot of readers and writers of fan fiction are American.

Now, I have never been to American but I've read enough about it to know that the United States does have quite a different culture.

**Yeah, they call biscuits **_**cookies,**_** can you believe it?**

Thank you Ron. Yes, this is actually one of the things we are talking about. Some American words for British items seem strange to us. Like I've never understood why you would want to call a courgette a zucchini. Of course, it is your culture and you are going to use it as a reference but as Harry is based in Britain, it becomes very clear who is a British writer and who is an American writer.

Ron and I have compiled a little list of things to avoid if you want to sound like Harry and other characters are in Britain. The first thing relates to spelling, something you may or may not know about.

If writing as a Brit, you should always spell color as colour. Humor is humour, flavor is flavour and so on. If you spell something that ends in _or_ it probably is ends _our _in Britain.

There is also _ize_, which is ends quite a few American words as well like realize. This should be spelled as realise, we do not use _z_ on the same scale as our American counterparts. So again, if you've got a word which ends with _ize_, it should be_ ise_ except in the case of seize.

This may seem silly but honestly, any Brit who spots the word color instantly knows the work isn't by a British author.

**I thought they hadn't bothered to check their spelling.**

Well, I always sort of knew but that's only because I'd read a few American books when I was young...anyway, let's talk about words now. Here in Britain, we have several words that you either spell differently or have a completely different word altogether.

**Like you guys say mom instead of mum.**

Exactly Ron. There is also diaper instead of nappy.

_**Restroom **_**instead of toilet or loo. I still don't get why you'd call them restroom...**

Artifact instead of artefact.

Ax instead of axe.

**Booger instead of bogey. **

**Bum instead of tramp.**

**Candy instead of sweets**

**Chips instead of crisps.**

Check instead of cheque.

**Cookies instead of biscuits.**

You've already said that. **I know, I thought I'd say it again.**

Cozy instead of cosy.

Dollars instead of pounds. We also don't use Euros over here, that's only in certain European countries.

Elementary school instead of Primary school. Also, here in Britain, we go straight to High school after Primary, there is no Middle school.

Gray instead of grey.

Fall instead of autumn.

**Fries instead of chips.**

**Jello instead of jelly.**

Mold instead of mould.

Omelet instead of omelette.

Phony instead of phoney.

**Pimply instead of spotty. I still don't get this one.**

Pounds instead of kilograms or stones.

Semester instead of term.

**Snickers instead of trainers.**

Story instead of storey. We use storey as a way to say a building's level and to distinguish between a literary works.

Sweater instead of jumper. Jumpers are not dresses, they are woolly sweaters.

**Trashcan instead of rubbish bin.**

Tire instead of tyre.

Also, one of your slang word for homosexual is fag but over here, fag means a cigarette. Just so you don't get upset or confused if you see the word fag in a British story.

I believe that is most of them, now onto some words that are a dead giveaway for non British.

Meatloaf and potroast are not dishes we generally have. Also, it is quite rare to have pancakes for breakfast, they tend to be reserved for special occasions. Bacon is something that someone who loves fry ups on a regular basis so avoid that and fried eggs. Half boiled eggs with a runny yolk to dip toast soldiers are okay although they are associated with children.

We tend to have cereal, toast or porridge for breakfast so these are safe options for you. If you do want to include a fry up as a breakfast, we have fried tomatoes, fired mushrooms, potato scones, French toast, fried egg and some bacon. Not stripy or bacon cooked so much you could snap it in half. Just gently cooked bacon.

And while we can get blueberries in this country, mentioning them instantly reveals you to be...not British. It just isn't a common fruit over here so if you start going on about blueberry flavoured something like syrup, we know you're not British. Also, remember that Thanksgiving is not a British holiday so do not use it unless you've got an American character.

Other give aways include frequent mentions of doughnuts, coffee, white washed fences, StarBucks, mountain dew, rootbeer, milk (for kids), going to park, talking about frats. Jocks, cheerleaders, red necks, hill Billies. Also, there is no such thing as a prep, frankly I've no idea what this is.

**Urgh, I hate that stupid My Immortal.**

Everyone does Ron, everyone was I? Oh yes, here are some animals that we do not have. Gators, racoons, possums, wild tortoises and fresh water turtles.

Is there anything I've forgotten Ron?

**Yep, probably the biggest giveaway, even bigger than color and blueberries.**

Oh yes, I think I know what you're talking about. This is a real issue for any Brits, I'm afraid it bugs the hell out of us. J.K Rowling, the Muggle author of these books is said to have regretted this a lot.

**You guessed it, it's changing the first book's title from Philosopher's Stone to Sorcerer's Stone. I've never understood this, Hermione has never understood this and Harry definitely hasn't. I mean, the Philosopher's Stone does exist in Muggle history and myth, why would you make up a stupid, dumber down name for it?**

Apparently, American publishers thought that American children would not be able to cope with the name, which I've always thought is really insulting. And it doesn't make sense as Ron said, it's a pre-existing mythical object. Sorcerer's just sounds so general, like it could apply to any sort of stone which had magical powers.

**Those publishers were probably like Percy (at his worst) or something. Or maybe they actually met Goyle and thought he represented America, something stupid like that.**

Who knows, Ron. But if you want to stick to the original and frankly proper title of the first Harry Potter book, it's Philosopher's Stone. Once again, both Ron and I hope this has been helpful and educational for you, please leave a review if you have any suggestions or comments.

Thank you.

_Author's note. Well, as it says above, I hope that was helpful. Until next time._


End file.
